Wyoming trying to satisfy EPA’s coalbed methane concerns

GILLETTE — Coalbed methane gas producers and state regulators
are in a scramble to satisfy concerns listed by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency regarding the discharge of
groundwater on the surface in the Powder River Basin.

The EPA recently put a hold on a handful of water discharge permit
applications with the Wyoming Department of Environmental
Quality.

In a series of recent letters, the EPA has noted that Wyoming
regulators appear to be using a permit scheme that does not meet
Wyoming’s own water quality standard intended to protect
agricultural uses. That criticism follows a September report by two
New Mexico scientists also indicating that Wyoming’s water
discharge permit scheme is based on flawed science.

In response, the DEQ has convened a working group of industry
leaders and landowners — many of whom have haggled over these and
other contentious coalbed methane water issues for more than 10
years.

“I felt it prudent to reset — to convene a working group and go at
this one more time,” said Wyoming DEQ Administrator John
Corra.

The group met for the first time Wednesday in Gillette. The focus
was to define the problem and set out a process for agreement on
potential solutions. But a lot of paths going forward are paths
these landowners, regulators and industry representatives have
traveled before.

“My reaction is sort of one of despair. The speakers from the state
agencies spoke as if this is the way things are and they can’t be
changed,” said Bob LeResche of the Powder River Basin Resource
Council.

CBM complications

Water must be pumped from coal seams in order to reduce the
hydrostatic pressure that holds the methane in place. In the 1990s,
the Wyoming State Engineer determined that the production of
methane gas is a beneficial use of that water.

That’s something that should be on the table for discussion, said
LeResche.

“I would hope that the ground rules would be anything can be
changed,” said LeResche.

Coalbed methane gas operators pump about 650 million barrels of
water from coal aquifers each year. About 80 percent of that water
is not put to any specific beneficial use, and in some cases turns
ephemeral drainages into yearlong flows.

One of the main complications for all stakeholders involved is that
there is no real limitation placed on the volume of water
discharged.

Matters of water quantity typically lie with the state engineer
while matters of water quality lie with the Wyoming DEQ.

In fact, a lengthy citizens’ petition process was put to the
Wyoming Environmental Quality Council — which governs the Wyoming
DEQ — several years ago resulting in an order essentially expanding
the DEQ’s water discharging process to consider water quantity.
When it arrived on Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s desk in 2007 for final
approval, he refused to sign it.

In the meantime, the Wyoming DEQ and the state engineer have
refined their oversight of coalbed methane water management.
However, the EPA made clear it is not satisfied that Wyoming’s
surface discharge program meets the Clean Water Act or even
Wyoming’s own agricultural protection standards.

“We are asking Wyoming DEQ to review the science behind their
analysis. The state will have to respond to EPA’s comments before
issuing these permits,” said Sandra Stavnes, chief of the
wastewater unit at the EPA’s Region 8 office in Denver.